As NBC refuses to rescind its invitation to Donald Trump to host “SNL” this weekend, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are continuing to call out the network for throwing the Latino and immigrant communities under the bus in the name of ratings.
Earlier this week, the Caucus released a strong statement urging “NBCUniversal to stand by its earlier commitment to end its relationship with Mr. Trump,” which it had done back in June following his initial bigoted remarks about immigrants from Mexico.
But with NBC seemingly taking a 180 on that commitment by inviting Trump to come back to host an episode of “Saturday Night Live,” individual members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are now speaking out in defense of the Latino and immigrant communities:
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) took to the House floor Thursday to demand NBC disinvite Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump from hosting “Saturday Night Live.”
“I rise today to encourage ‘Saturday Night Live’ to disinvite Donald Trump from hosting their show this weekend,” Sanchez said. “Many may believe that Mr. Trump is just causing controversy so that he can get media attention, but his divisive and racist rhetoric has very troubling and real world consequences,” Sanchez said.
Rep. Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) published an open letter in TIME telling SNL they are “fanning the flames of hatred”:
This weekend, Donald Trump has been chosen to host NBC’s Saturday Night Live, one of the most venerable homes for pop culture on television.
The same company is now promoting a man on NBC who has deeply insulted far too many American people.
Lorne Michaels and SNL may think Trump’s attacks have all just been jokes.
After all, we know that not all comedy invoking race, gender or religion is offensive.
Humor can show the absurdity of prejudice. It can poke fun at the trappings and difficulty of cultural integration. At its most basic, humor can expose differences that also help show how all people are valuable to society as a whole.
Unfortunately, Trump’s disgusting remarks are none of these. They have not been made in jest.
They are designed to drive a hateful, cynical wedge between fellow Americans.
Racist, misogynist, homophobic, anti-Semitic and other nativist, majoritarian humor has a long history. It is used to attack those who are “different,” to paint them as “inferior.”
It is kindling for fires of hatred.
And, in a live television debate, Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) slammed a Fox News host who attempted to defend Trump’s racist remarks:
“I’ve never raped a woman, I am not here to just take advantage of the country. The words that he has used to describe people, and he’s used specific words to describe immigrants and in particular Mexican immigrants and when you use that kind of a word, and you can’t justify it by giving clear examples of what you meant in terms of rapists, I think that’s clearly beyond pale. And for me it’s racist.”
